The 2020 National Christmas Tree: A Shining Example of PatriotismFor the past 57 years, GE Lighting has provided the lighting and design for the National Christmas Tree while part of General Electric. Now for the first year as part of Savant Systems Inc., GE Lighting, a Savant company will continue the privileged tradition for the 58th year.

In honor of our love for our country, this year’s patriotic design includes red, white and blue opaque lights in a larger, traditional style LED light bulb that are strung naturally around the tree, resulting in a simple, yet classic design. And no tree is complete without a topper. The dazzling six-sided, handcrafted 3D gold star features LED tape lighting and adorns the tree in celebration of the season.

This is the 12th year that GE LED lights, many of them Energy Star® certified, have been used exclusively in the lighting of the National Christmas Tree. New advancements in LED lighting offer the opportunity to create innovative designs and help utilize energy efficiencies. This year’s design includes 18,000 LED lights and only uses 3,500 watts. Each strand of the GE LED holiday lights uses nearly 80 percent less energy than traditional holiday lights, while providing the festive lighting.

GE Lighting, a Savant company is proud to partner with the National Park Foundation on the 2020 National Christmas Tree lighting and design.

The National Christmas Tree will be lit until 10:00pm Sunday through Thursday, and until 11:00pm Friday and Saturday through New Year’s Day.

PROGRAMWhile the COVID-19

pandemic precludes us

from gathering in person

for the first time, the

National Christmas Tree

remains a symbol of the

festive season and a living

witness to the history being

made in our nation’s capital.

Enjoy the 98th annual

lighting of the National

Christmas Tree from the

safety of your home,

available on demand

beginning December 3 at

TheNationalTree.org

GreetingsThe Honorable David Bernhardt, Secretary of the Interior

Margaret Everson, Counselor to the Secretary of the Interior Exercising the Delegated Authority of the

Director for the National Park ServiceWill Shafroth, President and CEO, National Park Foundation

Lighting of the National Christmas TreePresident Donald J. Trump and the First Family

Guest Performers

1

Colton DixonJerrod NiemannJillian CardarelliJillian EdwardsKellie PicklerLaine Hardy

Leaving AustinLynda Randle & Michael Tait

Matthew WestMelodie Malone

NPS Arrowhead Jazz BandTucson Arizona Boys ChorusU.S. Navy Band Sea Chanters

“The President’s Own” United States Marine Band

Segments prerecorded

A CHERISHED TRADITION

The history of the Lighting of the National Christmas Tree is intertwined with the history of America. Through peace and war, from national celebration to national mourning, Americans have gathered together and celebrated the season at this holiday event. The first National Christmas Tree was placed on the Ellipse south of the White House in December 1923. The tree was a 48-foot Balsam fir donated by the President of Middlebury College in Vermont. At 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve, President Calvin Coolidge walked from the White House to the Ellipse to light the tree from his native state. The tree was decorated with 2,500 electric bulbs in red, white and green, donated by the Electric League of Washington. Music for this first lighting ceremony was provided by a local choir and a quartet from the U.S. Marine Band. This first National Christmas Tree led to the tradition we celebrate today, even as the tree’s location and lighting ceremony have changed over the decades. From 1924 to 1933 the tree, renamed the National Community Christmas Tree, was located in Sherman Park, south of the Treasury Building and southeast of the White House grounds. During these

SINCE 1923,

PRESIDENT’S PARK

HAS PLAYED HOST

TO THE ANNUAL

NATIONAL CHRISTMAS

TREE LIGHTING

CEREMONY, ONE OF

OUR COUNTRY’S

MOST TIME-HONORED

TRADITIONS.

2

years, simple lighting ceremonies and community singing were accompanied by the U.S. Marine Band. The National Park Service’s responsibilities for the lands and the tree ceremony began in 1933. The years 1941 to 1953 found the National Christmas Tree on the South Lawn of the White House. In 1941, on December 24, only weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill led the lighting ceremony and addressed the crowd. In 1954, the tree moved back to the Ellipse, where it has been located ever since. Also in 1954, the tree lighting became known as the Christmas Pageant of Peace, a celebration conceived by the Wash-ington Board of Trade and the Washington Citizen’s Committee. The tree lighting ceremony moved from Christmas Eve to earlier in December and was followed by three weeks of presentations by community groups on a stage at the Ellipse. While the actual location of the tree in President’s Park has moved and the lighting ceremony program has evolved over the years, the purpose remains the same: to bring our local and national communities together to celebrate the season and share the universal message of peace during the holiday season.

PRESIDENT CALVIN COOLIDGE LIGHTS THE VERY FIRST

NATIONAL CHRISTMAS TREE ON THE ELLIPSE IN 1923.

Library of Congress

3

In 1978, National Park Service horticulturalists searched for a perfect tree whose life had started under similar environmental conditions as those of Washington, D.C., and a tree that would be healthy and strong enough to survive a move to the Ellipse. They found the tree in York, Pennsylvania, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. William E. Myers. It appeared to be the perfect shape and size, with no disease, and living in just the right soil. The tree had been planted by the Myers’ grandchildren. After discussions with the National Park Service horticulturalists, the Myers agreed to let their tree become the nation’s Christmas tree. That tree had grown to over 42 feet, served as the National Christmas Tree for six different U.S. Presidents (Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama) and was featured in 33 annual National Christmas Tree Lighting events before being toppled by a strong wind gust on February 19, 2011. On March 19, 2011, the National Park Service completed the planting of a new National Christmas Tree, exactly one month to the day after the previous National Christmas Tree was felled. This new National Christmas Tree was a 26-foot-tall Colorado blue spruce from a tree nursery in New Jersey.

THIS 1963 PHOTO INCLUDES THE NATIONAL CHRISTMAS TREE, AS WELL AS THE TREES THAT

MADE UP THE “PATHWAY OF PEACE.”

National Archives

4

The tree served as the National Christmas Tree for one Tree Lighting Ceremony in December 2011. Unfortunately, that tree died of transplant shock and was removed on May 5, 2012. On October 27, 2012, National Park Service horticulturalists completed the planting of a new National Christmas Tree. That National Christmas Tree is a Colorado blue spruce—the same species as the previous two trees—and, just like the 1978 tree, came to the Ellipse from a private residence, this time from nearby Virginia. That tree was irreparably damaged in 2018 when an individual attempted to climb it. Last year, yet another new tree was planted on the Ellipse. The 30-foot Colorado blue spruce from Palmyra, Pennsylvania, was lit last year for the first time by President Trump and the First Family. Christmas is always a special time in and around the White House and, while the COVID-19 pandemic precludes us from gathering in person, the National Christmas Tree remains a symbol of the festive season and a living witness to the history being made in our nation’s capital. Audiences around the world will join us for this 98-year-old tradition, webcast on the internet for all to enjoy. To learn more about the history and view archival photos of previous tree lighting ceremonies, go to TheNationalTree.org.

THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT STANDS BEHIND THE NATIONAL CHRISTMAS TREE

IN THIS 1983 PHOTOGRAPH.

National Park Service

5

Alabama Shelby County High SchoolAlaska IDEA Homeschool American Samoa Lupelele Elementary SchoolArizona Pinnacle High SchoolArkansas Wooster Elementary SchoolCalifornia Riverside STEM AcademyColorado Meeker High SchoolConnecticut Berlin Public SchoolsDelaware Newark High School District of Columbia Columbia Heights Education Campus Florida Port Salerno Elementary School

Georgia Davidson Fine Arts Magnet SchoolGuam Agana Heights Elementary SchoolHawaii Governor Wallace Rider Farrington High SchoolIdaho Mountain Home High SchoolIllinois Richland County Community Unit School DistrictIndiana Brown County High SchoolIowa Karen Acres Elementary SchoolKansas Rolling Ridge Elementary SchoolKentucky Dishman-McGinnis Elementary SchoolLouisiana Parkway Elementary School

STATE AND TERRITORY ORNAMENTS

MORE THAN 1,500 SCHOOL

STUDENTS FROM EACH

U.S. STATE, TERRITORY, AND

THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

HAVE GIVEN OF THEIR TIME

AND TALENTS TO DESIGN

AND CREATE ORNAMENTS

REPRESENTING THEIR

HOME STATE OR TERRITORY

FOR THE AMERICA CELEBRATES

DISPLAY SURROUNDING THE

NATIONAL TREE.

6

Maine Regional School Unit #38Maryland Hyattsville Middle SchoolMassachusetts All Saints AcademyMichigan Brimley Area School DistrictMinnesota St. Alphonsus Catholic SchoolMississippi Terry High SchoolMissouri Nixa Public SchoolMontana The Polaris School Nebraska Chadron Public SchoolNevada Damonte Ranch High SchoolNew Hampshire Amherst Middle SchoolNew Jersey Delaware Township SchoolNew Mexico Harrison Schmitt Elementary School

New York Champlain Valley Educational ServicesNorth Carolina West Buncombe Elementary SchoolNorth Dakota Kindred Public School DistrictNorthern Mariana Islands Grace Christian AcademyOhio Liberty Tree Elementary SchoolOklahoma Jenks High SchoolOregon Howard Street Charter SchoolPennsylvania Neshaminy School District Puerto Rico Escuela Dr. Francisco Hernández y GaetánRhode Island Frank E. Thompson Middle SchoolSouth Carolina J.G. McCracken Middle SchoolSouth Dakota Hill City High School

Tennessee Beaumont Magnet Academy Elementary SchoolTexas Caldwell High SchoolUtah Union High School Vermont Milton Town School DistrictU.S. Virgin Islands St. Croix Educational Complex High School Virginia Appomattox Regional Governor’s School for the Arts and TechnologyWashington Tukes Valley Middle SchoolWest Virginia Robert L. Bland Middle SchoolWisconsin St. Thomas More High SchoolWyoming West Elementary School

7

IN APPRECIATION

Kristi FoleyLeon KnolesTaylor CernanskyMatt RussellLarry BoshersThom PeacheeDave ThibodeauRyen WatkinsTosha PotterKeziah Potter

Jason SeagroveElise PerryDon McClurkinSewell JohnsonMike PetersDoug McKinleyDarryl PlayerMartin WhittierChris McCraryJoseph Kurtz

Tommy DuncanHannah OneidaRusty LeeJulion FrancisJames BooreOlivier RevelAndy BellJ.J. HackerJoe FosterAndrew Humphries

Brandon SmithJeffrey HiggsMike DucassouxMax JeffersJabari JeffersonRod McDonaldPeter MarengoJoe CorbinCurren BennettSusan Kelleher

Peter ShedleskiBrian DziuraTNDVBella Faccia Inc.Uppercut22 Degrees

Program:J.W. Arnold

The National Christmas Tree Lighting is a production of Pleasant Street Entertainment and LKJ Productions:

The National Park Service and the National Park Foundation would like to thank their staff members, as well as their partners in the White House Visitors Office, who have contributed their time and talent to the production of the event.

The 2020 National Christmas Tree Lighting is presented by the National Park Service and the National Park Foundation, with the generous support of the following companies:

Special thanks to Mountain Top Fraser Fir, Santa’s Choice Tree Farm, and Merlyn Farms for donating the trees lining the America Celebrates display.

8

Working together with a growing community of passionate park champions, the National Park Foundation strives to ensure that all people are able to discover

their own personal sense of wonder and connection to parks, because they don’t just stand for where America has been – they inspire where we go next.

Get involved at nationalparks.org

Glacier National Park

Kan

Kank

avee

/ Sh

utter

stoc

k